US President Joe Biden on Sunday, October 15, condemned the murder of a 6-year-old Muslim boy who was stabbed near Chicago (Illinois). The child, who received twenty-six stab wounds on Saturday, died in hospital. His 32-year-old mother is expected to survive, according to a statement from the Will County Sheriff’s Office, which called the attack “heinous.”

“Investigators were able to determine that the two victims of this violent attack were targeted by the suspect because they are Muslim and because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the statement said, which specifies that the killing took place approximately 64 kilometers west of Chicago.

A Palestinian family

In a statement released Sunday, Joe Biden said their “Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek: a refuge to live, learn and pray in peace.”

“This horrific act of hatred has no place in America and goes against our fundamental values: the freedom to pray without fear, the freedom to believe and the freedom to be,” added the US president.

The mother managed to call 911 while fighting off her attacker, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, according to the sheriff’s office. During the autopsy, a serrated military knife with a 15 cm blade was removed from the child’s abdomen.

“You Muslims must die.”

Upon arrival, police found Joseph Czuba sitting near the entrance to the residence where the assault took place, his forehead marked by a laceration. He was taken to hospital for treatment before being charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of hate crime.

“Deputies located both victims inside the residence in a bedroom. They had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso and upper extremities,” the sheriff’s statement said.

The head of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ahmed Rehab, told reporters that the assailant knocked on the victims’ door and first tried to choke the woman, telling her: “You Muslims must die,” quotes text messages sent by the victim from his hospital bed to the murdered boy’s father. This attack is “our worst nightmare,” CAIR stressed.